When water freezes, it expands. When water freezes in a pipe, the pipe can rupture allowing water to escape causing serious property damage. The annual water-related damage loss due to ruptured pipes in the U.S. is estimated at $3.5 billion. Some insurers report that water damage due to frozen pipes represents the single largest source of insurance claims. Surprisingly, a pipe does not a break where the ice forms. It is not the radial expansion of ice against the wall of the pipe that causes the pipe to burst. Rather, following a complete ice blockage in the pipe, continued freezing and expansion inside the pipe causes water pressure to increase downstream—for example, between the ice blockage and a closed faucet at the end of the pipe. When this happens, the water pressure may rise from approximately 35 pounds per square inch (psi) to over 4,000 psi. The vast increase in water pressure leads to pipe failure. What is needed is a solution that reduces the possibility of such a scenario. It is also desirable for the solution to be automatic requiring little or no human intervention. It is also desirable for the solution to be able to run off of a battery or other low voltage power sources.